Advanced Sniper and Aiming Guide

This guide will show you how to play sniper, how to aim better, and how to hit headshots and meatshots. I will talk about basics, positioning, weapon use, class strategies, and correct aiming methods to make headshotting easier. Etcetera.

Introduction

Note: I wrote this guide at a time when there were no good sniper guides for beginners; all the other guides were teaching bad habits to beginners.If you really want to improve look into modern ideas on learning theory (its applicable to everything, not just sniping). And most importantly, eat healthy, sleep well, relax, cultivate a healthy mind, be at peace with the world.

Version 1.5 Wooo finally updated it, cleaned up some areas, updated now invalid info, added some points. still need some more vids and pics
(This guide is a work in progress. I am working on editing it, adding more content, screenshots, tips and videos. If there is anything you think I should add just post in the comments below. I would say the most important parts of this guide are aiming and positioning, so read those if nothing else. if you have any questions, ask them in the comments, or add me, or google it :O)

Disclaimer: Im not that good of a sniper. I just like analyzing gameplay, and as I couldn't find a good sniper guide I hope this can help.


My main points:
1. Use a good sensitivity with good hardware
2.Use the right weapon for the situation
3. Use positioning to make headshots easier
4. Practice quickscoping in mge and sniper servers to develop reflexes
5. Dodge and jump and jive and weave :)
6. Be polite
7. Learn from your mistakes and better players

Summary of how to improve at TF2: Play a lot of TF2 with good hardware with a low sens with good fps with good internet against better players in a competitive setting with a mindset to improve and analyze and learn.



Before you play TF2 you want to have the right mindset to improve. Winning and improving are not the same thing. I see to many players that only care about winning even if it means using imbalanced weapons, or not being nice to their team. Whenever I play TF2 I try to play opponents that are better than me and I analyze why they are better and I try to improve. Many snipers play far back and obsess over spies because they dont want to die. I dont care about dying that much, If a scout runs at me instead of running away I try to headshot him. Yes I die sometimes but now I can headshot better at close range and I used to never be able to. If you dont take the shots you wont make them ever. I (try to) play TF2 smart yet aggressively to make myself get better. You should always have a mindset of how to outsmart your opponent and be thinking about good positioning. (Note: i only really care about dying if i have uber, or in a competitive game. Pubs, lobbies, and mge are about improving.)

If I were to try to run straight at a better player I would die. I am constantly going to high ground for an advantage, not overextending, flanking, watching my back, distracting, confusing, and moving around. I use all of these things to give myself an advantage over more "skilled players". Most players dont actively think about all the repercussions that come from their playstyle and positioning and this is why they lose and dont improve.

If you dont learn anything else from this guide the one thing you should learn is to be constantly learning. If you play smart and can adapt and learn, in the end you will become better.

Hardware and Correct Setup for Optimal Aiming

First things first; hardware. You want a high quality sniper rifle that you clean daily. Make sure to keep it in good condition and have a large supply of good quality bullets.

All jokes aside,you want to make sure you have a comfortable setup that lets you aim freely. Optimaly you want a mouse that is comfortable, that slides smoothly, and you can control it easily. You also want a large mousepad or a large smooth surface fo your mouse

IMPORTANT: Many people only aim with their wrist. If you want to be precise (especially for scout and sniper) you need to aim with your arm and your wrist. And having lower sensitivity allows you to do that. LOWER SENS = MOVE MOUSE MORE = TURN SLOWER = MORE PRECISION)

IMPORTANT: Being healthy will make you better at video games. fact. maybe. Ive noticed being tired also slows reaction time and makes aiming worse. Do some jumping jacks or some other physical activity before playing, it will help. My hands tend to get cold, which also makes my aim poor. It makes quite a big difference to be well rested, not hungry, confortable, and with warm hands. On days where I notice I can't hit shots like usual, it often because im tired, or my hands are cold. Just study your patterns and see what makes you a better player.


This is similair to the mousepad I use. Before I used a mousepad that was about 10 cm wide, my new one is about 40cm wide. This allows for lower sensitivities that make slight aiming adjustments and tracking a target much easier. The way you want to measure your sensitivity is by how many cm or inches it takes to move your mouse that makes you character turn 360 degrees in game. You can stand still and use some landmark to turn all the way around and see how far you had to move your mouse. If you have a small mousepad it is impractical to have a large 360 so a large mousepad helps alot for aiming. My sensitivity is about 8 inches for a 360. Once you try a lower sensitivity you will notice it is alot easier to aim precisely. It doesnt have to be an exact measurement, you want to find something that works for you and keep using it. It will take some time to get used to a new sensitivity, that is normal. To adjust your 360 you can change settings in your preferences, in-game options or in a mouse driver if you have one.

(If the 360 part was not very clear, google it and watch a video that shows it in action.)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AoXEN9ZAogzVdG9lODVQaHFSVEl6ZS1XN091a0lMR2c#gid=0

That is a link to a spreadsheet that shows the setups of the best players in TF2. The scouts are going to be the classes that also play sniper becuase they have the best aim. You can see they all have a large 360 of at least 20cm to much larger.

If you dont play sniper or scout very often and you dont like large 360s, I would suggest a 5 inch minumum if your mousepad can handle it.

ALSO TURN OFF MOUSE ACCELERATION.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2
That link shows how to disable mouse acceleration on a PC.
On a mac you can download a system preferences pane, but dont ask me, google it, its the internet for gods sake.

Basics

I have seen to many snipers that are doing it completely wrong. First some ground rules

1. Its not about winning - dont use Sydney Sleeper, Razerback, and Shiv and camp in the same place being paranoid about spies and other people attacking you. You aren't helping your team, and you aren't helping yourself. You will develop the wrong playstyle. Honestly, if you are newish to the game and dont fully understand it (this is most people) then don't even play sniper. Use other classes first to get down basic aiming and movement etc.

2. Give yourself room to work - Sniper excels in open and long spaces, try to not go in cramped corridors if you can avoid it

3. Bushwacka shouldn't random crit - It just shouldnt.

4. Constantly be moving - Even if you are scoped in be constantly strafing so you are harder to hit. This rule is true for every class.

5. Jumping is good, usually - Jumping helps you dodge stuff, that is usually good :) Jumping can be used to surf explosive and other damage. Some snipers are so good that they can reliably headshot you every time you jump. So don't jump then, but you won't run across many snipers that good.

6. Think about what you are doing - I see so many players that play stupidly and dont learn from their mistakes. If you want to get better constantly analyze where to stand, why the enemy is
better, how to improve etcetera. If you arent thinking you wont improve. Don't keep doing the same stupid thing over and over just to get yourself killed.

7. LISTEN - Many players dont listen, sound can be a huge advantage in TF2. You want to use good headphones so you can locate sounds and hear enemies around you. Many times I will hear people behind me before they shoot me and as sniper it is a needed skill to counter spies.

8. Give yourself challenges - If you find that you can easily headshot people on flat ground, make it harder, try different terrain, or rocket jumping soldiers, or playing against better players. This will make you a better sniper. Anytime you make the game harder it will help you improve.

9. Don't scope in if you don't have a shot - only be scoped in if you are actively trying to headshot someone, or there is a heavy or something about to peek a corner and you need to charge up. Otherwise if you are scoped in your FOV and strafing is limited making you a target for spies, other snipers, market gardeners etc. When you aren't actively taking a shot, keep track of your surroundings, check your back often, move erratically, jump a lot, spy check, spam "need a dispensah heah", whatever, mostly just check your surroundings for spies and such.

10. BE POLITE - Specifically to snipers, if you are playing mge with another sniper dont second shoot all the time. Second shooting is when you wait for the other sniper to scope in because he moves slower. Once he scopes in you quickshot him. That is an impolite pracitce and is very annoying. If you never scope in before your oppenent sniper scopes in you need to stop. Also it does not help yourself, if all you can headshot is scoped in snipers you will never get better. Hardscoping is harder than quickscoping and to be an efficent sniper you need to learn to hardscope.

Be nice to your medics and be a polite player. I have zero respect for impolite players that only care about themselves and their points. FUN FACT: You can use teamwork if a engy sets up a teleporter entrance you can level it up for him while he sets up the exit. Then you can bring through your own level 3 sentry or arrive at the front lines as any class before the round starts. AND GUESS WHAT, YOU DONT GET ANY POINTS FOR THOSE TELEPORTS. :O But it helps your team tremendously and teamwork is great.

Positioning

Positioning as a sniper is always a balance between being safe and having good sightlines. Just because you can see a long distance does not always mean it is a good sightline. For example on harvest.


Lets say an enemy is strafing around in this circle on harvest trying to dodge your snipes. Many snipers will stand on the roof of harvest because you can see much of the map. The thing most snipers dont realize is that you have very few good angles from the roof.



If you are trying to shoot that enemy from the roof it will be very hard. From your perspective he will be moving around in an ellipse, so you have to aim in 2 dimensions, left-to-right and up-and-down. So while you are relatively safe and can see much of the map, it makes aiming difficult.


Now if you are standing on the ground to the back of the house his head will appear to only be moving in the red line, now you have only one dimension to aim in making headshots extremely easier.

As a sniper you always want to look for places where you can easily headshot. Look for places where you can retreat if need be, but you can aim at a place that will funnel enemies down a route that is flat. Many snipers stand too far back where they have terrible sightlines. I tend to play more agressively and try to quickshot. I especially like the long flat sitelines on harvest because many ignorant scouts will run at you in a straight line, making their head appear stationary (but getting bigger) to you, which is easy to shoot. Tip: dont run in a straight line at a sniper.

Here are some pictures that show good sightlines on harvest.



The best way to find good sightlines is to play sniper and think for yourself where you can get kills without being overexposed.

GOOD SIGHTLINES SHOULD BE LONG, NARROW, AND FLAT
anything flat is good

Weapons

(I did not include weapon stats in this section because chances are you already know them. If you dont go to the teamfortress wiki. This section is more about when you should use certain weapons.)

PRIMARIES

Sniper Rifle


The default sniper rifle. Very reliable, the best option in general. Used in competitive.


Sydney Sleeper


If you only use this weapon you will never learn how to headshot. Use the sniper rifle.


Bazaar Bargain


Actually a very good option. If you can stay alive and play a less agressive sniper and the enemy team has many heavy classes this can be very powerful. It got nerfed a while ago, and i havent used it since. Not as good an option anymore, but decent.

Machina


An okay choice for the extra damage. Only use this if you are protected by your team or you are using an smg for shooting an enemy up close because the Machina cant no scope. The extra damage is helpful but usually the default is a better option. Also the tracer rounds can give you away if the enemy cant see you. If they dont see a sniper they often wont dodge as much making them easier to hit. If you alert them to your position with this it could make them attack you, dodge, or avoid your sightline.

Hitman's Heatmaker


Meh, not bad. If you only headshot it does the same damage and the focus is nice but it isnt allowed in some competitive play. It sounds cool, thats a plus.



SECONDARIES

Submachine Gun


If you can hit all the shots this can do ridiculous amounts of damage. The problem is this has large weapon spread so practice is needed to use it effectively, and you can burn through ammo quickly.

Jarate


Good for teamplay. Especially if the enemy team is bunched up you can douse them in this stuff. It also works for marking spies and is handy for extinguishing yourself and teammates who are on fire. Use it for teamwork, spies, and pyros. Really just play around and see which secondary you like the most.

Razorback


It can be a good secondary if used correctly. I see to many snipers using this off in the balcony of harvest to avoid spies. If you are by yourself a good spy is just going to shoot you with his revolver. The way this should be used if you are playing agressively with your team where the spy cant shoot you because you are right next to your team. It is hard to play this way in pubs and should be mostly used if you are doing Highlander competitive.

Darwin's Danger Shield


The extra health is nice, but I never use it because it can let me survive 1 headshot and I don't think that's fair to other snipers. Like the Razorback, dont't use the Danger Shield with the Machina as you don't have a SMG for close range fighting.

Cozy Camper


Useless if the other team has a competent sniper because they will kill you. Hypothetically it isnt that bad but I never use it ever. If you want to go ahead, but be warned it will mess up your aiming because it limits your strafing.

Cleaner's Carbine


This weapon sounds awesome and is fun for derping around but isn't very practical. It does less damage over time than the stock SMG and the crits are extremely situational. If you practice you can become very good at using this weapon amd obatining crits.


MELEE

Pan


It is the best melee. You are not allowed to use anything other than the Pan. (maybe the ham)

Aiming

Now what you have all been waiting for, how to shoot people in the head. Before you start you want to make sure you have a good hardware setup that is comfortable and allows you to aim precisely.

You want to start with the basics, learning how to quickscope. Quickscoping is scoping in near someones head and quickly moving your crosshair onto their head and clicking. You want to scope in as close as possible to their head so you only have to make small adjustments that are quicker and easier. Depending on who you are shooting you want to aim differently. If it is long distance or against a sniper that is scoped in and it only requires minute movement of your crosshair you want to use your strafe keys to aim onto their head. Even if you arent using your strafe keys to aim you still want to be strafing constantlyto be dodging enemy snipers.

Hardscoping is when you scope in and remain scoped in to charge up a headshot. Hardscoping is useful for high-health targets and when you are waiting for a target to become visible. For hardscoping you want to keep yourself protected because you have a very narrow field of view and move slowly. When hardscoping you may want to hide behind cover and peek out once you are charged up. This strategy works well against heavies that are shooting at you. Hardscoping works best at long range because it is difficult to make large adjustments needed for close range headshots while scoped in.


You can find sniper servers to practice quickscoping by typing "sniper" into the map filter.

On sniper servers it will be quite flat so you only have to worry about aiming left-to-right. Since it is only snipers they will be moving slowly when they are scoped in making them easier to hit making it a good place to start. You always want to be moving around, using the default sniper rifle, and trying to headshot as quickly as possible; the longer you are scoped in the easier you are for the enemy to hit. Once you do sniper servers for a couple of hours you can rack up hundreds of kills and learn the basics of quickscoping. Although enemy snipers are relatively easy to headshot so once you know how to quickscope you want ot move onto someting else.

MGE is a 1v1 mod that lets you and one of your friends or a random to play on a small map to 20 points. Usually this is used to focus on aim and skills that transfer to competitive. For sniper this can be great practice for playing against good snipers, and on uneven terrain. You can try quickscoping , or hardscoping other snipers or even other classes. You will die alot but what is important is that you are getting better


For mge servers type "mge" in the server filter.

MGE TIP: After you kill someone in MGE their character will let out a scream or say a line. WIth headphones on you can use this to locate them immediately after you kill them so you dont get flanked. Very useful, if you dont know where the enemy is you are at a disadvantage.




What you want to do next it play on maps such as nucleus and harvest that are flat and have good sniper sightlines. Here you need to combine your knowledge of positioning with quickscoping. Quicksoping enemies that are jumping and not snipers is much harder so it requires a lot of practice.


Do a lot of this.


From there you can keep practicing headshotting on various maps and situations and even try competitive sniping in tf2center.com or wherever.

Another factor in aiming is lag compensation. TF2 has a strange lag compensation system that i wont get into, but you can get away with aiming behind someone and pulling off a headshot. Playing a lot will make you used to lag compensation and how it works.

Teamwork and Priorities

My priorities when sniping are medics, people shooting me, people shooting my teammates, the best player available, anyone else.

Priorites really depend on the situation and you need to decide for yourself. Also shoot sentries and mini-sentries because you can do lots of damage to them without getting shot by them helping out teammates such as scouts and pyros that arent very good with minis.

In games where you are working with your team, whether it is highlander or just a pub you have certain jobs as a sniper. You want to keep the enemy sniper(s) down to keep your own team safe. When you team pushes you want to move in behind them and deal headshots to their high-damage slow moving classes such as heavies and soldiers and pick off weak enemies.

Conclusion

Im not done with this guide. If you have feedback or anything you want me to add just post in the comments below.

Thanks to:
ShinySavior - For being my model (the sexy demo and engy)
Aggressive Voodoo Rapist - For discussing sniper tactics and mge'ing
Jet Recovery - For letting me practice clicking on several occaisons
Derp Demon - for getting raped in mge
Everyone in MGE who let me shoot them in the head
Anyone who gave me feedback
My internet provider for only having me lag out most of the time
Sean "Heyo" Cutino for making Harvest and other awesome maps


Zachary: the only thing i disagree with you about is the sleeper
Luneth: all the other guides i saw said "camp somewhere with razerback and try to hardscope peeps?
Zachary: lol
Luneth: sydney sleeper isnt that bad
Zachary: the sleeper can have good tactics in hl
Luneth: but noobz that play with it will never learn to headshot
Zachary: but still
Zachary: you shouldn't just call it a ♥♥♥♥ weapon and leave it at that 8)
Luneth: ive playe with a sydney sleeper hardscoper in a sniper server who just got roflstomped
Luneth: im pretty sure i said "dont use it unless you are as good as m4risa"
Zachary: lol

[MR. DUBBZ]

dont sniper mge lol play scrims & matches

[themilkman]

Thanks you!!!

[nelly frittata]

ok cool?

[L]

i use a high sensitivity 1750 dpi and 2.5 in game sens and i do fine

[Cap Cube]

Mission Complete:3 Medics killed.

two of them got kicked as well

[nelly frittata]

you must retaliate with swift vengance

[Cap Cube]

Well then take this hard dic-question.

If a group of medics is under the bridge in Suijin spamming their taunts and breaking the map am I allowed to kill them or is that considered "dishonorable"?

More to the point should they be treated as any other taunters(Rancho engis,Conga/Kickers, etc.) or should they be terminated with extreme prejudice due to them breaking the map and.or being general nuisances.

[nelly frittata]

hats are so 1800s get with the f'in times

[Cap Cube]

WHAT???!?!?!?!
You are a heretic!
Luneth confirmed 2 b illuminaty.

How about fedoras?
can I wear those?

[nelly frittata]

dont put that poison in your body